I chose this topic because I continue to hear mixed reviews about the idea of young children watching television. I am a parent who allows my four year-old daughter to watch television. I do monitor what she watches and if something comes on the television that I do not approve, I turn it off. I also know when she has watched too much. However, I can honestly say that my daughter has learned a lot cognitively from some of the shows that she watches. She has learned to speak some Spanish through watching Dora the Explorer. She has also learned how to count backward and identify odd shapes, such as trapezoid and octagon, by watching Team Umizoomi. I believe that if parents pay attention to what their children are watching, then they can help promote their child's cognitive development by directing their children toward watching certain television shows that actually teach something. The above research study helped benefit society because it clarified some of the misconceptions about television viewing. However, this topic will remain controversial because many professionals and parents will continue to believe that all television is bad. As a professional and as a parent, I am not one of them. I will not purposely sit a child down in front of the television to teach them something, but I believe that occasional television exposure is not harmful.
Reference:
Kirkorian, H., Wartella, E., & Anderson, D. (2008). Media and young children's learning. The Future Of Children / Center For The Future Of Children, The David And Lucile Packard Foundation, 18(1), 39-61.
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and this is definitely one topic that I have heard so much about. I totally agree with you that we, as parents, must be aware of what our children watch and limit television watching to a degree. I, as a parent allowed my children to watch tv, but was keenly aware of what they were watching as well. I think that too many times, television is used for babysitting. When used in this way I do believe it can be a problem. Enjoyed reading your blog! What do you know about research on video gaming??? That is another hot topic!
Amy,
ReplyDeleteThere is an article by Mhurchu, Maddison, Yannan, Jull, Prapavessis, and Rodgers titled "Couch potatoes to Jumping beans: A pilot study of the effect of active video games on physical activity of children." The results of the study show that children who participated more in active video games were more likely to spend more time doing physical activity outside of playing video games than children who played non-active video games. Again, I believe that it is up to the parent to monitor what their child is doing. If the children are physically involved in the game, then I do not see a problem with playing video games. Parents should also monitor the video games for content. The video games should have some type of educational aspect to them.
Tiffany
Hello Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! You brought out some good points. This is definitely a topic that I heard so much about as well. I agree with you that parents should monitor what the child watches on television. Dora the Explorer do teaches children some Spanish, number counting and shapes. I may not be a parent, but I am an aunt and I am picky about what they watch on television and also what type of music they listening to. Television is bad if you allow your children to watch adult stuff, but other wise it will be okay depending on what you are watching. I really enjoyed reading your blog.
I agree with your post. Television is just like everything else that we as parents have to monitor with our children. My daughter is 12 but when she was younger she loved Dora. When she began 4K she was able to communicate with some of her Hispanic classmates. Educational television programs can be resourceful tools for children. It is the parent's responsibility to make sure that children do not become addictive to television. I applaud your restraint with your daughter. Thanks for sharing.
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